The Cost Of Training U.S. Air Force Fighter Pilots [Infographic]

The RAND Corporation recently released an interesting report examining the cost of training pilots on various U.S. Air Force platforms. The methodology focused on several criteria such as operating and support costs, fixed and variable costs as well as costs per flying hour across the whole pilot syllabus. The resulting estimates were very high across all of the platforms analyzed. The cost of training a basic qualified fighter pilot adds up to an estimated $5.6 million for an F-16 pilot, $10.17 million for an F-35A pilot and $10.9 million for an F-22 pilot.

A security man stands near the runway as a F-15 fighter jet of US Air Force takes off during India -US joint air force drills at Air Force Station Kalaikunda, India, Monday, Dec. 10, 2018. (AP Photo/Bikas Das)

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Training costs are also steep for pilots aiming to fly ground attack aircraft and bombers. While training an A-10 pilot comes to an estimated $5.96 million, total costs for becoming qualified on the $2.1 billion B-2 Spirit stealth bomber come to an estimated $9.89 million. By comparison, the cost of training pilots on the Air Force's transport aircraft are lower with the C-130J estimated at $2.47 million per pilot and the C-17 estimated at $1.1 million per pilot.

The analysis comes at a time when the Air Force is worried about a shortfall in pilot numbers. The service uses an Aviation Bonus and Aviational Incentive Pay to influence pilot retention and sustain the size of the pilot force. Questions have been raised about whether these payments are high enough amid a hiring drive in the commercial airline industry. They have also become discretionary programs under Department of Defense Instruction 7730.67 which means the Air Force has to annually justify its budgets for both payments. RAND concluded that from a personnel cost perspective, it is more cost-effective to increase incentive pay than to expand the training pipeline to sustain the pilot inventory.